A challenge to all gurus: Help me keep my phone!

[Cmass]

Originally Posted by syrguy1969

In reading this thread, a few things come to mind:

Please be careful in using any tweaks or changes made for the i900. The i910 (American VZW version) Is just different enough that nothing is a given, so please do a backup before attempting anything. I have seen a lot of bricking due to flashing i900 ROMs and some tweaks not working out as described!!

If iContact doesn't work as you intend, another cool one is PocketCM:
http://pocketcm.com/contact.php

It works great on the Omnia and it includes a threaded SMS part that I like MUCH better than the WM version, it is free (or you can donate) and is always being tweaked + supported!

The lock tweak while in a call does work, but it disables certain icons on the dialer screen (along the right side if I remember correctly) so it wasn't worth it to me!

Adrynalyne is covering your questions pretty well, but in case either one of you want to do more reading/finding about tweaks, I started a thread where I am trying to get them all in one place, and there are a lot of them listed along with resources, and hopefully a lot more to come!! (please let me know if you know of any not listed so I can add them to the top)
http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=51532

That is a really nice thread you started!
However, it is a bit more into registry work than I am comfortable with - at least until I get some of the basics taken care of first. (I imagine I need a registry editor to do some of those hacks?)

[Cmass]

Originally Posted by skrump

Chris-

That's a well thought out list of issues you've put together! I'm curious as to what you find, as I agree with you on a lot of the points. I'd love to find a better MP3 player as well, however I think I may be stuck with Windows Media Player. I'm using it to play Rhapsody subscription tracks, and I'm under the impression that other players won't be able to handle the subscription DRM...

Some of the trouble I'm finding as I try out some of these apps, such as the pcketcm app you suggest syrguy, is that they don't play well with the Omnia's screen rotation. More than once I've found that these programs work great in portrait mode, but as soon as you tilt your phone into landscape mode, the program crashes. I assume this just comes with the territory considering the Omnia is such a new device, and time will bring us more polished apps...

How's Google Maps working for you? I love that program, but right now I'm hitting the bug where it doesn't recognize the Samsung Keyboard for entering text/#'s. The workaround is to use the horrific Microsoft keyboard, which sucks. I'm hearing of plenty of other folks having this same problem on the Omnia, and have been watching the Google message boards for any sign of a fix...

Finally, unless I missed it, did you or anyone come up with a way to turn off the "Battery is now fully charged" Alarm? The one fix I read for that was to replace that alarm audio file with a file of room noise, but I don't know what exact audio file my phone is using for that alarm...

* I tried Pocket Music and found it was a good program but - hey maybe it's just me - but the EQ was so tiny I could not even use it with my stylus. It was also rather large and cut out when other programs were running.

* I have found many programs have trouble with rotating the screen. When reading the support forums on many apps, that is something I often see. Many developers seem to be aware of it and are developing patches...

* Google Maps worked really well for me and was a lot of fun. It had trouble finding my location...not sure why... perhaps it is because I live in the mountains but VZ Navigator does find me here. Overall, I was happy with it and found it worked like a paired-down version of what you see on your PC. I did not have any trouble with my keyboard...

-----

It looks like a lot of these issues can be taken care of with a lot of messing around with patches and settings. I'm willing to continue pulling out my remaining hair getting this to work right but the pink camera problem is a hardware issue........and I'm having a tough time getting Verizon to believe me or Samsung to acknowledge my existence. My theory is that there are batches of Omnias with defective CCDs. I think they should replace them...

[Adrynalyne]

Google Maps can't access the gps.

--yet.

[syrguy1969]

Originally Posted by Cmass

That is a really nice thread you started!
However, it is a bit more into registry work than I am comfortable with - at least until I get some of the basics taken care of first. (I imagine I need a registry editor to do some of those hacks?)

Yes a lot of these take registry work and I inderstand being hesitant, it took me a LONG time before I attempted my first one. When your ready, we can direct you to a couple good reg editors (a couple free) and advise on doing changes (always backup before is the biggie)!!!!!

But a lot of the tweaks are being zipped for easy use by members like Adrynalyne!! All you do is drop the file anywhere on your device (unzipped of course) and click on it and your done (I still suggest a backup before though)!!!!

Originally Posted by Cmass

* Google Maps worked really well for me and was a lot of fun. It had trouble finding my location...not sure why... perhaps it is because I live in the mountains but VZ Navigator does find me here. Overall, I was happy with it and found it worked like a paired-down version of what you see on your PC. I did not have any trouble with my keyboard...

Originally Posted by Adrynalyne

Google Maps can't access the gps.

--yet.

THe reason GoogleMaps won't work yet is that VZW has locked the GPS down on all their new devices to only allow their (VZNav) GPS utility to be able to access GPS.

The good news on this is that because of MANY complaints, a law suit, and other circumstances, VZW has relented and promised to release GPS in the first quarter of 2009!!

[pdub73]

Originally Posted by skrump

Chris-
Finally, unless I missed it, did you or anyone come up with a way to turn off the "Battery is now fully charged" Alarm? The one fix I read for that was to replace that alarm audio file with a file of room noise, but I don't know what exact audio file my phone is using for that alarm...

I managed to replace this nuisance of an notification, with sounds that are not as loud and thus don't wake me up in the middle of the night....there are actually 2 sounds...one is called "notify" which is actually the second of the 2 sounds the first sound is called "alarm2" they are located in the "windows" folder and they are hidden files....

you can either create a sound of just "silence" or use a quieter sound that won't wake u...if u need more help lemme know

[TheChampJT]

Wow! Never thought I'd see so many complaints on this great device.

S2U2: Not sure if the issue here, works perfect for me, I haven't even seen complaints remotely close to this at xda.

Email: FlexMail is the best.

MP3: S2P for me typically, but use WMP for playlists.

Videos: CorePlayer was recently updated and plays my movies with excellent quality, considering the quality of playback on this phone compared to my Touch. Also has YouTube integrated, this was updated a lot, also now has finger scrolling.

Powering On: Center button works well for me, we're all different though.

In-Call lock: For now, I enjoy this feat since I used to always tap things while onthe phone.

Phone off while in-call: If you setup S2U2, you can prevent this.

Custom Themes: WAD2 and WA3 are the best. WA3 also gives the option to close on tap vs minimize.

Overall performance: This phone has been very responsive to everything I do, and never slow, regardless of all the open apps, which are big on mem consumption.

Sliders?: Use FTouchSL

On the plus side:

Additional 8GB memory, with option for up to 16GB card
5MP AF Camera
Flash Light option, I actually need this more than I thought
G-Sensor
Opera
USB Mass Storage
Enlarged Menus
New Apps
Fm Radio
RSS/Podcast reader
Card Reader
Converter
TV Out Option
Video Editor
Visual VM
Optical Mouse/D-pad: Getting used to more and more, actually like
Widescreen, great for reading emails, browsing and movies
About 100MB free RAM
WiFi

Also, majority of the apps I used on my Touch work, except my $7 Guitar Hero, no big loss.

Spb Keyboard is a must for this.

[Cmass]

UPDATE

Earlier this evening after messing around with my Omnia and my LG Dare side by side. After comparing the cameras, after my horrible experience with Verizon regarding the Omnia. After the past 2 weeks struggling to get this set up satisfactorily. And then after reading some more reviews, I decided to dump the Omnia and go back to my Dare. It is more stable, the menus are more intuitive, the phone is more solidly built, the pictures are more true color and don't have a pink circle in them. The decision was made and I gathered up all the obnoxious little gizmos I'm supposed to carry around with me such as the proprietary headset adapter, antenna thingy, the ridiculous dangling stylus - and chucked it into a bag ready to throw it on the counter and give the azzhole manager at the local store a mano e mano talkin' to in front of other customers.

But then I didn't.

I HATE losing!!! I HATE giving up - especially if I have any suspicion that much of my difficulty is related to my own ignorance. Registry tweaks? No, I shouldn't have to do them. It seriously pissses me off that I might have to. BUT, if it fixes some problems and in the mean time I learn something new, I suppose it might be a good thing.
I have pulled out most of the hair on my head working on this thing and now face the prospect of finding other body hair to pull out - but I will forge ahead.

I am now considering putting together a spreadsheet listing known issues and potential fixes as well as a list of various enhancement applications. The forums are great but searching and then reading through the hundreds of pages of discussion to find the relavent nuggets is what is taking the most time. (True, I often get sidetracked in my reading) Several times now I have seen an app that looks like it might work on the first page of a thread and then read dozens of pages to the end only to find along the way that it has serious problems working on the Omnia. That kind of exercise takes a long time....

- Chris

PS - Funny thing is, my last engineering consulting gig (and one potentially available soon) was designing and making manufacturable unique cell phone accessories. You'd never have thunk it with all my wining eh? (In this case, soon to be released stick anywhere cell phone pockets for jackets, backpacks, breifcases, purses, cars etc..) I have literally dozens of dummy phones of all shapes and sizes from all the major carriers used for sizing and styling purposes. But, unfortunately, (obviously) it doesn't mean I know Jack Squat about how they operate!

[Cmass]

Might it be helpful if everyone on the forum identified what country or network they are in?
From what I am reading this might be a critical piece of info since some of these apps work differently on Verizon phones than others.

Comments?

[Cmass]

Originally Posted by Adrynalyne

Google Maps can't access the gps.

--yet.

I'm a bit confused on this... What I read from Google is that it accesses the cell towers the same way VZ Navigator does. If so, then like VZ Navigator it is NOT a true GPS system. This is a huge distinction. Systems that rely on cell towers for their location signals only work in the city. A true GPS uses Satelites to determine position and can be used anywhere on the planet with no subscription.
Thus, if we are talking about just a tower-based positioning system here, I honestly don't care. Besides the potential elimination of the obnoxious extra fees and a few options that other "GPS" software might offer over VZ Navigator, there will be no fundamental performance difference between a locked and unlocked GPS system. If it is a REAL GPS system they are locking.....then there is a HUGE difference!

[syrguy1969]

Like TheChampJT mentioned...I can't get Guitar Hero to work either...thankfully it wasn't one of the more expensive games out there LOL!!!!

Cmass....glad to see you didn't give up the fight!!! I knew I liked your spirit!!!!

I am trying to get all the tweaks and fixed in a thread here as well, please feel free to compare to your list and please let me know when you get yours done, I would love to add resources like that to the thread:
http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=51532

As for GoogleMaps....it does utilize GPS if you activate it, but as for the tower locating 'My Location'....for some reason (especially with VZW) not many (if any) devices are compatible with that feature.....not sure why, but I haven't had any luck with it since day one!!